Tag Archives: spring flowers

Just days after our last snows in Colorado, spring flowers start to emerge to brighten up the landscape and fill the air with lovely fragrances. During this time of year, I make it my mission to get outside as often as possible to fill my senses with the joy that spring has to offer — and actually surprised myself with how many wonderful many blooming trails I’ve visited lately. Here are some of the highlights of my recent adventures in Jefferson County:

Crab Apple Route, Littleton, April 23, 2018 – Blooming Bike Ride

A group of us got together to ride the 7 mile Crab Apple Route in Littleton — a 40 year old loop lined with crap apple trees that bloom for a few beautiful weeks in April.

South Platte Trail, April 29, 2018 – Crab Apple Trees just North of Hudson Gardens

The Sunday Run I attend with the Columbine’s Running Club is secretly known at the LTR’s (Love to Run) and we meet at Carson Nature Center every Sunday at 8 am, 7:30 in the summer. About two miles down the trail, there is a tunnel of crab apple trees that bursts into white and pink blossoms at the end of April. Running through this fragrant stretch of the trail is a worthy goal for my Sunday workout. Once I reached the trees, I had to stop, close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to saturate my senses with the heady aroma of the sea of flowers surrounding me.

During my sister Pam’s marathon training this winter and spring, I often agreed to accompany her on the trail. At her last training run before the big race, we met at Writer’s Vista Park to run one of our favorite trails. It is a relatively flat tree-lined crushed gravel trail that winds through the backyards and horse pastures of Littleton. As an added bonus, the crab apples trees were in full bloom.

South Valley Park, May 5, 2018 – Trail Running Practice

Pam and I decided to participate in a trail running program this spring and so far, the training has taken us to a variety of beautiful trails in Jefferson County. I ended up missing the group on Saturday morning (since it was rescheduled to the evening) but hit the trail at South Valley on my own and enjoyed the pleasant weather, spectacular rock outcroppings and many flowers.

Hildebrand Ranch Open Space Park, May 10, 2018 – Fly Girls Flower Run

The leader of our Thursday morning running group (Suzanne Buntrock) selects a different trail every week depending on trail conditions, weather and this time of year, flowers. One of our favorites in the spring is the Two Brands Trail at Hildebrand Park. The park is accessible in two spots — in the Trailmark neighborhood near my house and from a parking lot just past the Denver Botanic Gardens on Deer Creek Canyon Road. It runs along the hogback and wraps around my neighborhood of Trailmark. This week, the flowers were blooming!

Deer Creek Canyon, May 12, 2018 – Training Running in the Rain

Our trail running group meets rain or shine and despite the morning drizzle on Saturday, we all met at Deer Creek Canyon Park. The run up the trail was damp but fragrant and beautiful. Many of us “power hiked” up the slippery trails but when the the path evened out, we jogged. Dashing up the “stairs” was challenging and fun but definitely an exercise I might have skipped if alone. The jog down was a nice reward after the two mile ascent. We heard about a very challenging half marathon called “Fear the Deer” being held at the park next weekend. Pam and I are committed to train and sign up to do it next year.

Chatfield State Park, May 16, 2018 – Walking Bennie along the River

My friend Suzanne is a naturalist guide at both Chatfield and Roxborough State Parks and we often meet to walk. I always enjoy our get together’s because she is so familiar with the flora and fauna of the area and I inevitably learn something new. On this day, we were walking her grand dog Benny who poked along while we looked at trees felled by beavers, enjoyed new flowers, found plum trees and choke cherry bushes and marveled at the running water in the river. A beautiful day for a leisurely stroll in the park!

Thanks to Kim, a resident of Ken Caryl Valley, our Fly Girls group, could enjoy a morning workout on the Massey Draw Trail in her neighborhood. Our hike/run started with blue skies and a warm morning. The dirt trail ascended quickly and was decorated with mobs of bright flowers all along the route. I was too busy snapping photographs and chatting with Jan to run too much. We still worked up a sweat climbing up the trail and down. A lovely prelude to our coffee talk at Atlas Coffee down the road.

When my naturalist friend Suzanne mentioned that she had to attend a wildflower talk this evening, I was immediately interested. How can I go? Do I have I have to sign up? It was a training for naturalist guides, she said, but she’ll call and see if I could tag along. Yes, I was in. She picked me up at 5 and we headed to Roxborough State Park and there, met about ten other naturalist guides. The leader Ann handed me a sheet with a list of about 50 wildflowers and told me that we’d be attempting to see almost the entire list in the next two hours. Wow! What a treat and a mind bender. We hit the trail with our list, pens and cardboard squares for note-taking. The tree-lined trail was chock full of blooming flowers of every color — naturally growing in this spring forest. Ann shared scientific detail of each flower we observed, the family name, species identifiers, uses by native Americans, color, etc. Rather than being overwhelmed, I took great notes, many photos and left with the urge to come back tomorrow to solidify the new knowledge I’d gained.

Whew! Its hard to believe I’ve been on so many trails and enjoyed so many flowers during this busy time of the year! My gardens are keeping me very busy after all. I’m within days of planting warm season crops so have been prepping plots, tending to seedlings, planting the last of the cold crops, weeding and shopping for garden provisions. But busy or not, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to inhale the beauty of the season!

It was my good fortune to visit the campus of my alma mater to attend a reunion as an observer last May and one of the highlights of my trip was visiting Capen Gardens on campus. These lovely gardens are tucked behind one of the student dorms and have bloomed gorgeously since long before I was a student at Smith in the early 80s. When my daughter was a toddler we also had a wonderful photo shoot with her in their garden. I share the photos here.

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Hi, I am an avid gardener both at home and at Rosedale Community Garden where I've had a plot for 19 years. I am very interested in learning more about gardening, how to preserve it, incorporating farm fresh produce into my cooking and living a healthy lifestyle. In addition, I am a Master Community Gardener through Denver Urban Gardens and am a shareholder at the Chatfield CSA. In 2015, I spearheaded an effort to start a community donation garden at St. Philip's Lutheran Church -- a project I will share on my blog. I am eager to share what I've learned and the adventures I had learning new things and interacting with the garden community.